HONOLULU – No. 2 Hawai'i Pacific University advanced to the Sweet 16 on Saturday with a 5-1 victory over No. 19 UC San Diego in the NCAA Division II Women's Tennis West 1 Regional hosted by the Sharks at the University of Hawai'i Tennis Complex.
 
The No. 2 Sharks (19-2) chalked up their eighth straight match win and move on to the NCAA Division II National Championships in Surprise, Ariz., starting May 8. The No. 19 Tritons (13-11) seasons came to an end with the loss.
 
The Sharks grabbed the victory by taking two of the three doubles flights and sweeping the top three singles positions to move on.
 
HPU was led by senior Lena Lutzeier of Blaustein, Germany, the top ranked Division II singles player and part of the 15th ranked doubles duo with senior Oceane Adam of Le Moule, Guadeloupe. Lutzeier and Ocean blasted through 42nd ranked Ashley Chao and Rebecca Chou 8-1 at No. 1 doubles to open play. Lutzeier then ripped 22nd ranked Ashley Chao 6-1, 6-2 at No. 1 singles.
 
Sharks senior Lara Meccico of Carolei, Italy, followed suit. Meccico and junior Barbora Kijasova of Ostrava, Czech Republic, who are ranked 45th as a duo, were pushed to the limit at No. 2 doubles against Alexandra Weil and Madison Hale, but won in a tiebreaker 9-8 (7-5). Meccico, ranked third in Division II singles, blitzed 14th ranked Rebecca Chou 6-2, 6-0 at No. 2 singles.
 
Lutzeier and Meccico completed their singles matches within a minute of each other.
 
HPU won the match as 34th ranked Adam withstood the test of 37th ranked Weil to win 6-3, 7-5 (7-4) at No. 3 singles.
 
The lone point the Tritons won was at No. 3 doubles, as UCSD's Chole Wight and Nousha Nowamooz won in a tiebreak over HPU's Debora Echeverria and Leticia Gonzalez dos Santos 9-8 (7-1).
 
The final three singles flights went unfinished. Echeverria was leading at No. 4 against UCSD's Jasmine Hosseini 7-5, 4-2, while UCSD had advantages in the other two matches with Vareria Corral leading Gonzalez dos Santos 6-1, 5-2 at No. 5, and Wight leading Kijasova 6-3, 5-4 at No. 6.
 
The No. 2 Sharks will now wait for the seeding of the national championship Sweet 16  to learn whom they will meet in on May 8 in Surprise.